


Imperio

by MirandaTam



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M, Mind Control, Poetry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-03-13
Updated: 2012-03-13
Packaged: 2017-11-01 21:31:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/361476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MirandaTam/pseuds/MirandaTam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Because honestly, you need skill to become an animagus. Peter was just very, very good at hiding it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Just Peter

Just Peter

_They should have seen it coming.  
But how could they?  
It was just little Peter, after all.  
Just Peter, who was so bad at transfiguration  
A third year could have done better,  
Just Peter, clumsily running down the hall  
To catch up with his friends,  
Just Peter, who still melted a cauldron  
Every other potions class.  
Just Peter, who managed the minimum grade  
For all the classes he really wanted.  
Just Peter, who (somehow) mastered the confundus charm  
Before anyone else in their year.  
Just Peter, who managed to teach  
Occlumency to the marauders  
(never more than he could easily get through),  
Just Peter, who managed the animagus transformation first  
(because really, it relied more on mental discipline.)  
(James still got second.)  
Just Peter, with an affinity for the mind arts  
The others didn’t ever suspect.  
Just Peter, who had cast the imperius curse the first time  
And Sirius had told Snape how to find Remus at the full moon.  
Just Peter, who kept the unforgivable curse on Sirius  
Until that halloween when all hell broke loose.  
Just Peter, who cursed him again  
That night in the Shrieking Shack._


	2. A Room in his Head

A Room in his Head

_He made a room in his head.  
It took him a while to do this,  
But if you were under the imperious curse  
For five years, you would have one too.  
When Peter was in his head  
Seeingcontrollingbeing  
He tried to escape  
Tried to find a way out.  
But he never had the strongest will.  
The best he could do was  
watch.think.plan.  
So he made a room in his head  
Where Peter couldn’t change his thoughts  
(He still had Sirius’s armshandsfeetface)  
*  
He had one hour  
One glorious hour  
(jameslilydead)  
(PeterWormtailallhisfault)  
(hadtomakethattraitorpay)  
and then  
Azkaban  
Where he changed into Padfoot  
And went to his room  
The room in his head  
Where the dementors couldn’t find him.  
*  
Later  
(monthsyearsdecades)  
Leaving the room  
(traitor’s face)  
(a newspaper)  
(e s c a p e)  
He had to save Harry  
Before Peter got him, boxed him up.  
That night  
The Shrieking Shack  
He thought they would make it  
He would be free  
(then he wondered where Peter had learned wandless unforgivables.)_


	3. James's Nightmares

James’s Nightmares

_James had been wondering  
What was wrong with Sirius.  
After all,  
You notice when your best friend changes.  
So one day,  
James cornered him in an empty room  
And confronted him.  
They argued  
And shouted  
And almost cursed each other  
But then  
James noticed his best friend’s eyes.  
*  
There is a saying that says  
The eyes are the window to the soul.  
*  
Half an hour later  
James woke up tied to a chair.  
Peter  
(thateviltraitor)  
gloated  
while Sirius stood off to one side  
looking at nothing.  
That image haunted James’s nightmares for weeks  
Even after he couldn’t remember what had caused it._


	4. Differences

Differences

_Remus didn’t quite know  
What had happened.  
After the  
Incident  
At the shrieking shack,  
The Marauders  
(even him)  
were acting  
(off,wrong,notthemselves)  
different.  
Sirius was  
For lack of a better word  
Blank, gone, waking-but-not.  
James  
Was dreaming in screams  
And people not there.  
Peter  
Confident, smug, but hiding that  
Just under the surface,  
Triumphant.  
*  
Remus asked Moony what was wrong.  
(a wolf, so much more sensitive than a human)  
(can smell anything, even fear)  
Moony asked why Padfoot was missing.  
*  
A week or two after the next full moon  
James had a partner in his night terrors._


	5. Laying Low at Lupin's

Laying Low at Lupin’s

_Sirius knew it was coming.  
They portkeyed away  
And it was just the two of them.  
(Well, three if you count Peter.)  
Moony(Remus?Lupin?)  
Looked at him  
With that Look in his eye.  
So, he said,  
Here we are.  
Alone.  
Not alone,  
Sirius wanted to say  
(scream,shout,yell)  
Not me.  
Yes, his mouth  
(but not really his)  
betrayed him.  
Alone.  
Just the two of us.  
(three, he screamed in his head)  
Then Moony was there  
Right there  
In front of not-his-face  
And they leaned in.  
Sirius went to his room and cried._


End file.
